Cadets visit East Midlands Air Support Unit

On two Mondays in September and Monday 1st October Cadets set off in their respective flights to visit the East Midlands Air Support Unit (ASU).

When we arrived they gave us an intriguing tour of the unit and especially the Eurocopter EC-135 police helicopter.

The Staff on duty at the ASU then gave us the privilege of sitting in the helicopter and using the equipment, such as their £750,000 camera that has multiple functions which includes thermal, low light and normal camera options. The camera was also so versatile they could zoom into the moon and see the craters on the lunar surface! Cadet Stevens Z was then asked to run around the area to demonstrate the effectiveness of the thermal imaging camera! It was impressive to say the least! Law breakers beware!!!

They then took us into the hangar where Junior Cadet Bolton, because he was wearing black and white stripey socks, was selected for a surprise! He was told to lie down on a specialised stretcher which then had all the air pumped out of it holding it in place tightly around his body. This demonstrated how effective it would be in supporting someone with a severe injury such as a broken leg, as he couldn’t move at all whist on the stretcher.

We then went into the operations room where we were shown a selection of videos of police incidents and pursuits which the unit had personally recorded. Many thanks to the ASU Team for allowing us to climb all over their helicopter. Thanks also to Sergeant A. Strong ATC for setting up the visits. Also many thanks to Mrs Rickman for driving the bus.